The Use and Need of the Life of Carry A. Nation eBook

In a few days I returned to Pittsburg and was invited
by the Providence Mission to go out on the streets.
Quite a crowd gathered and while I was speaking, I
was arrested again by an officer who refused to tell
me what I was arrested for. I was taken to the
police headquarters. The kind hearted matron
wanted to give me a pillow and some bedding for I
had nothing but a hard board in the cell. The
Chief of Police forbade the matron to give me anything
to make myself comfortable. He said: “That
woman is giving us a great deal of trouble and we want
to get rid of her.” The matron came to me
when no one was looking and advised me to give a bond
of thirteen dollars and get out so that I might have
a bed. I did this and went to my boarding house.
I secured the services of a lawyer, Mr. Buckley.
I was fined ten dollars which was afterwards remitted.
This republican, rum-soaked police force make it a
point to arrest me on every pretext. They have
told me that if I win they will lose their jobs.
Eighteen months before this I had been put in jail
at Pittsburg, making three times all for doing my duty
in that city.

CHAPTER XX.

WHY I WENT ON THE STAGE.—­THE VICE OF TOBACCO.

I got hundreds of calls to go on the stage before
I did. Gradually I got the light.

This is the largest missionary field in the world.
No one ever got a call or was ever allowed to go there
with a Bible but Carry Nation. That door never
was opened to any one but me. The hatchet opened
it. God has given it to me. My managers
have said: “This is a variety house at,
Watsons and the Unique, of Brooklyn, or the Boston
on the Bowery. You do not wish to go there.”
Yes, those need me more than the rest; never refuse
a call even from the lowest. If Jesus ate with
publicans and sinners I can talk to them. Francis
Willard said the pulpit and stage must be taken for
God.

Persons often say: “Why do you take the
money of such?” I say “I can do more good
with the money than they can.” After the
battle the victor takes the spoils and is entitled
to them. I will take all I can get in a good
way. Money is a blessing, if used as such.
I go on the stage to do good, I take their money for
the same reason. The curse of it is when it is
desired above the good of humanity. I am fishing.
I go where the fish are for they do not come to me.
I thank God for this unspeakable gift. I take
my Bible before every audience. I show them this
hatchet, that destroys or smashes everything bad and
builds up everything that is good. I tell them
of their loving Deliverer who came to break every
yoke and set the Captive free. When I look upon
the hundreds of faces before me, I say: “Oh,
these poor aching hearts! God give me a loving
message.” Words can not tell of the love
I would like to bestow upon them. I often weep.
“Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have
gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wings.” Then I say: “There
is one that loves more than you. He can make
all things right.”